Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 73 Our Family

In the cold and damp coffin, the boy's eyes slowly opened.

Four lonely soul flags stood quietly in the four corners of the room.

As the young man woke up, the four soul flags seemed to have reached their limit and fell to the ground in pieces.

All the paper people and paper horses beside the coffin disappeared without a trace.

The rows of incense and candles burning before the tablets of Heaven, Earth, the Sovereign, Parents, and Teachers emitted a dim, yellowish light. The cold vat was filled with burning incense sticks.

The smoke from the incense sticks and the light from the burning ingot candles are the signposts guiding Ran Qing's path in the dark underworld.

He walked along the direction of the light and smoke in the fog, and finally walked out of the Wujiang ghost world and returned to the human world.

But when the young man climbed out of the coffin holding the cold and heavy wooden sign, the coffin next to him was empty.

He was the only one who came back.

Aunt Six has followed the predecessors of the ghost walkers and her master and disappeared deep into the ghost world of Wujiang River...

Recalling the scene of separation, Ran Qing pursed his lips weakly.

He looked at the other empty coffin next to him and sniffed softly.

There was no wailing or tears.

Ran Qing seemed to have gotten used to such losses. When everything was settled, he had no tears left.

He simply turned around calmly and carefully placed the gloomy wooden plaque of the predecessors against the wall.

Then he walked towards Aunt Liu's room.

For Ran Qing now, there are more important things to accomplish than sadness.

...Sixth Aunt’s last wish.

After turning on the light bulb, the dim light illuminates this room that has never seen light all year round.

The air was filled with the faint scent of tobacco, and a row of dried tobacco leaves leaned against the wall. A wooden bed, covered by a yellowed mosquito net, sat desolately in the corner. On the cupboard against the wall stood two pots and an expensive rice cooker.

A large iron stove, a hallmark of the Qiangke region, stood quietly by the door. Though the coals burned, their enclosed structure kept them burning slowly and coolly, leaving the entire stove icy and almost cold. Last night's leftovers lay quietly on the round fire tray, white lard congealed among the remains.

This is Aunt Liu’s house, deserted, closed and empty.

For more than a week, this is where Ran Qing cooks and eats dinner every day.

Now, he is the only one left.

Ran Qing walked silently to the bed and dragged out a wooden box from under the bed.

The old wooden box had a dull, dark luster, with dust and rust accumulated on the lock. Ran Qing opened the lock effortlessly and saw what was inside the box.

There were a few old books with yellowed pages, a stack of pale blue hundred-yuan bills, and a bankbook underneath the hundred-yuan bills. There were also a few dirty brushes, an unused bottle of ink, and some miscellaneous items.

These are the last relics that Aunt Six left to Ran Qing.

Ran Qing slowly reached out and picked up the old books in the box with great care, as if touching a fragile treasure.

Four books, two handwritings.

There are three thick books written by Sixth Aunt's master: "The Story of the Second Sister and the Extermination of the Demon", "The Ghost Records", and "Witchcraft and Demonic Arts".

It was a thin booklet written by Aunt Liu, with a blank cover and no title.

Four books, two generations.

In the old days when printing technology was not well developed, successive ghost walkers relied on handwritten copies with brushes to pass down the skills of witchcraft and ghost walking.

Ran Qing opened "Witchcraft, Ghosts and Magic" and the booklet, and silently flipped through and compared the two books.

"Witchcraft, Ghosts and Magic" was copied by Aunt Shen Er, the master of Aunt Liu. Beautiful and neat small brush characters flow on the yellowed pages. It tells how the skills of the ghost walker are cultivated, how paper figures are made, how evil spirits are killed, how to communicate with ghosts and evil lords... This is the secret technique of the ghost walker, thick and heavy, with detailed content.

Aunt Six wrote about the hidden dangers and flaws in those secret arts, as well as the secret techniques for practicing several of them. The pages were thin and the content was brief.

"...The skills of the shady walkers have been recorded in books and manuals throughout the ages." "The secret manuals contain the real things, but they are kept secret. Many important tricks and hidden dangers are not written there."

"Even if the disciple stole the master's secret manual, he would not be able to master all the skills of the underworld just by reading the book. If he were to use some of the evil techniques, he would get into trouble."

Aunt Liu's mumblings before her death vaguely echoed in my ears.

Ran Qing frowned, feeling a little horrified as he looked at the hidden dangers and costs written on the thin booklet.

"But I'm lazy and don't want to play all these roundabout ways with my apprentice. I wrote down all the hidden dangers and tricks in a separate booklet."

"I thought that if anyone wants to learn my skills in the future, they can just read the book and practice on their own, without me having to watch over them every day..."

In the dim light, the "Witchcraft, Ghosts and Magic" written by Miss Shen Er was not obscure. The writing was ordinary vernacular, but it was mixed with many pronunciations of the Qianghe dialect, such as "Guiyi", "Maosi", "Nazhuo" and so on.

Ran Qing, who was used to reading in Mandarin, found it a bit difficult to read.

But I can understand it.

He flipped through the pages quickly, skipping the opening part boasting about the inheritance of the ghost walkers, skipping the part about raising the spirit, and quickly found the content about opening the altar and lighting incense.

"Open the Yin altar and light the soul incense..."

Muttering the words in the book, Ran Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

Judging from what is written in the book, opening the altar and lighting incense are not difficult. Miss Shen Er even drew a picture with simple lines to facilitate understanding.

Only by setting up a ghost altar and lighting soul incense in the ghost world of Wujiang River can one be considered a ghost.

Inheriting Aunt Liu's legacy is her greatest wish and also a prerequisite for helping Aunt Liu fulfill her last wish.

And the things that Aunt Liu wanted to do but failed to complete...

Ran Qing silently closed the book and took a deep breath.

His eyes looked at the little cotton ball at the door.

"What's wrong?" Ran Qing's eyes were extremely gentle.

Xiao Mianhua, who had returned with him from the Wujiang ghost world, had now woken up and was hesitantly wandering at the door, staring at Ran Qing.

Hearing Ran Qing's question, Xiao Mianhua hesitated for a moment and stammered, "Auntie said that I can only tell you the secret after you light the soul incense and open the Yin altar."

"Before that, you are not allowed to ask me!"

Little Cotton stammered, then weakly tucked her tail between her legs and added, "Also, you promised Auntie! You won't hit me or bully me in the future!"

"So even if I don't tell you, you are not allowed to be mean to me! And you are not allowed to hit me!"

"Otherwise, when Auntie comes back on the seventh day, I...I will complain to her!"

The little girl's sweet and timid voice made Ran Qing smile at first, and he thought it was very cute.

But after hearing the last part and seeing Little Mianhua's timid, frightened, trembling body, the smile on Ran Qing's face froze.

Yes, he promised Aunt Liu to take care of Xiao Mianhua.

He also promised Aunt Liu that he would fulfill her last wish after he became a ghost walker.

In his eyes, since Aunt Liu passed away, it was natural for him to take care of Little Mianhua.

Ran Qing was not a harsh bad person and had no intention of bullying Xiao Mianhua.

But silly little cotton doesn't understand these.

She only knew that her aunt, who loved and cared about her the most, was gone.

From now on, the only person she could follow was a stranger she had only known for two weeks and with whom she had no relatives or friends...

Ran Qing's heart ached.

It turns out that he was not the only one who lost his loved ones that night...

(End of this chapter)